What’s In Your Water?

You can find water pretty much anywhere in the United States. We are lucky to have access to drinkable water unlike some third world countries. That doesn’t mean that our water is necessarily “good” for us though, most tap water sources are loaded with toxins and chemicals that can make you sick and unhealthy. Today, we are going on a mission to find out what’s in your water and how to make it better!

So what’s actually in your water? I live in St. Charles, Missouri, so I retrieved the 2019 St. Charles Water Quality Report to show you, (you can find yours on your city’s government website).

How did they do?

So you might be thinking after looking at all of that, “It didn’t violate any rules or laws” or “Those numbers are very small”, which you would be correct in some regards. Legal limits don’t always equal “safe”. Legal limits for contaminants in tap water have not been updated in over 20 years. It’s always safer if it’s not there at all or reduced.

Do you trust your water?

We’ve all learned by now that the government cannot be trusted when it comes to keeping your water clean just by using what happened in Flint, Michigan as an example with lead. Contaminants such as antimony, arsenic, barium, fluoride, chloride, and aluminum have no business in your drinking water and can harm your body. What can’t you see on this report? Things like bacteria, viruses, sediment, and pharmaceuticals.

What do we want in the water?

You should also know that there are some things that are in the water that you WANT to keep in there! Iron, Potassium, Calcium, Cobalt, Manganese, and Magnesium. These are your good minerals.

How do we make it better?

So how do we keep the bad out and the good in? We need to have some sort of capability to filter or purify the water. First, let’s talk about the difference between filters and purifiers. Filters eliminate protozoa and bacteria, purifiers eliminate protozoa, bacteria, and viruses. So the difference is the ability to remove viruses from water.

Types of filters and purifiers

There are literally thousands of water filters and purifiers on the market and even more pre-bottled options for purchase.

• The lowest level of filtration would be a simple carbon filter which is similar to something that you can install on a faucet.
• Water pitcher filters like Brita can filter out a few more contaminants and help with taste.
• Reverse osmosis is able to purify and remove a very large amount of contaminants but also removes many beneficial minerals in the process.
• Water distillation purifies but leaves the water completely void of any nutrients and minerals. This is called “dead water”. Without having the proper minerals, your body’s electrolyte balance can be thrown off.
• Berkey gravity purifiers with fluoride attachments are in my opinion the best water purification systems. They purify the vast majority of the bad and keep all of the good minerals.
• Buying bottled water is a toss up and is a corrupt industry. Many bottled waters are just tap water with fancy labels. Some are better than others but they create waste and provide little benefit for healthy drinking water.

What can the Berkey filter out?

Viruses, bacteria, heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, and much more! Check out the full list here. https://www.berkeyfilters.com/pages/filtration-specifications

Hopefully this will help for you to make a more informed choice about the water you are drinking. Remember, your body is made up of about 60% water!

Yours in health,

Dr. Glenn Ezell